Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
minute charge to access the Internet. Therefore, what is assumed free in the
United States may cost a considerable amount elsewhere.
5 . 2 F e e S t r u c t u r e
The initial conjecture was that the cost to produce an e-journal is minimal. Thus,
some argued that these journals should be free of charge to readers. 31 By using
existing infrastructure and other resources available in most universities, scholars
were able to establish e-journals for no real cost to them. 32 Many of the early elec-
tronic journals were free of charge. This was especially true for entrepreneurial
e-journals subsidized by research centers, universities and other sponsors. A survey
by Hitchcock, Carr et al. [22] studied 83 science, technology and medicine (STM)
e-journals. Most commercially published e-journals in the sample were subscription-
based while the majority of the other e-journals did not charge. The study also found
that approximately half of the journals had no stable source of funding.
In 2005, the two opposing philosophies about the fee structure of e-journals were:
subscription based access (Section 5.2.1 ) and free access (also known as open access)
to all e-journals regardless of their type or sponsor (Section 5.2.2 ).
5.2.1 Subscription Based E-Journals
E-journals (although cheaper) cannot be published without expense (Section 5.1.1 )
Therefore, publishers must obtain revenues by some means. Most commercial pub-
lishers and professional associations use some form of subscription.
Hybrid journals usually charge a (relatively) small additional fee to provide both
a paper and an electronic version of the same journal. For example, IEEE/INSPEC
charges $810 for a paper subscription to Electronic Letters Online and $1,215 for a
combination subscription [1] . The American Mathematical Society charges 90% of
the p-journal price for an e-journal version and 115% for both [39] . In 2004, Kluwer
Academic Publishing charged $69 for a print only version of Information Systems
Frontiers and $87 for both print and online. INFORMS charges its members $66
for a personal p-subscription and $47 for an e-subscription to Information Systems
Research . 33 The price of both a p-subscription and an e-subscription is $86. Indi-
viduals can obtain all of INFORMS' 11 e-journals for $189 a year. By 2005, some
31 This belief is exacerbated by the general assertion that all Internet resources should be provided free
of charge.
32 As discussed in Section 5.1.2 , hidden costs are involved in the production of e-journals (e.g., the use
of the infrastructure, the time of the scholar, the time of a graduate assistants, and secretarial staff). Some
of these resources are already in place rather than being incremental. These costs are often absorbed by
the hosting university.
33
http://www.informs.org/Pubs/PubsInstitutional.pdf [last accessed on June 20, 2005].
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